Not a Chance(67)

Travis felt a brief moment of fear. He hoped she would never break up with him. But if she did, he hoped she would show more emotion than this. "Don't you love him at all?"

She met his eyes. "No. I don't. And I was recently made to realize that everything I want out of marrying him, I can actually have by myself. Which leaves me no reason to marry him."

Travis reached for her hand again, and she didn't pull it away. He held it and stroked her fingers with his thumb, thrilling at the absence of that ring. "This is the single best moment of my life," he said softly. He hadn't actually meant to say it out loud.

"Oh, Travis," Arden said. She was trembling just slightly, the only sign of emotion there was. "I'm going to see to it your life is filled with moments even better than this one."

He grinned then. "Saturday."

She nodded. "Saturday." She drank the last of her coffee. "Can we go see the baby?"

"Sure."

Travis kept his hand on Arden's back all the way back to Tonya's room. While she held the baby and leaned over it, he brushed her hair back behind her ear. He rested one hand on her waist and watched her face as she smiled and made baby talk at the baby. Travis couldn't stop touching her. She didn't seem to notice him hovering around her, or else she didn't show it. He figured as long as he wasn't annoying her, he was just happy to follow her around.

She handed the baby back to Tonya and made a little small talk with Emma. Then she took Travis's arm and looked up at him. She was telling him it was time to go. Like they'd been married forever and all they had to do to communicate was send little signals back and forth. Travis beamed down at her.

"I'm gonna take Arden home," Travis said, not taking his eyes off of her. "I'll be back in an hour or so."

"What?" Dustin jumped to his feet. "You're leaving me here? Alone?"

Travis looked up at him in surprise, prepared to tease him for being such a wimp. But then he saw the genuine fear in Dustin's eyes. Something was going on with him.

Emma laughed. "You won't be alone, silly," she said, wrapping her arms around Dustin's waist. "You'll be with me."

Dustin was silently pleading with Travis and Travis couldn't understand why. Still, he couldn't leave his brother in this situation if it was so uncomfortable for him. "Well, actually, you could drive Arden home, Dustin. You have to get back to the shop anyway. Neil's there all alone."

Dustin nodded. "Sure. I could do that."

Arden went stiff at his side. "No!" she said sharply. "That's okay. I'll walk. Thanks."

Travis touched her cheek. "He doesn't bite. Do you Dustin?"

Dustin shook his head. "Not at all. I'm more than happy to take you home, Arden. Give us a chance to talk about Travis behind his back, right?" Dustin laughed nervously.

Arden stared at him like he'd just sprouted a third eye. She looked up at Travis and he begged her with his eyes to please go silently. She looked back to Dustin. "Okay. Thanks." She gave one last wary look at Travis.

Emma kissed Dustin goodbye, clearly oblivious to the fact that he was having some sort of problem. Then Dustin ushered Arden out.

After they were gone, he found Emma grinning at him. "So?" she asked. "What's changed?"

He smiled, feeling more peaceful inside than he'd felt in years. "Everything," he said.





CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR



Arden glanced at Dustin several times during the car ride. He was stiff and silent, but this time at least she didn't feel like he was freezing her out.

"So...you and Emma, huh? Is that going well?"

Dustin didn't react. Just stared at the road. "She wants to get married and have babies. That's normal, right? Most chicks want that, right?"

Arden shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. I'm sure she doesn't want you to rush into anything, though."

"You sure? She seems pretty ready." His voice was pitched tight and he gripped the steering wheel to the point that his knuckles turned white.

"Well, she might be ready," Arden said. "But she can wait. Don't let her push you around."

Dustin glanced at her, a hint of a smile forming. "It's hard to say no."

"I'm sure. But you've only been dating a couple of weeks. Set your boundaries early so she doesn't form expectations that you're not comfortable with."

Dustin laughed. "That's some damned good advice. You should have your own column in the paper."

"Right," Arden said sarcastically. They rode the rest of the way in silence. Arden was glad to get out of the car and away from him.

At home she gathered up the basket of things that belonged to Nick. She got the ring out of her purse and tossed it in. Her plan was to drive to the bank and put the stuff in Nick's car. Then go inside and break up with him. And be home by lunch. But her phone rang again.